David Corn: Tax Deal a Win for Politics Not Policy

David Corn

From Politics Daily - Okay, tea partiers, is this what you really wanted? Republicans holding middle-class taxpayers and unemployed Americans hostage so the well-to-do get budget-busting tax cuts that will be less efficient in generating jobs than other economic initiatives? On Monday, the GOPers succeeded in hammering out a compromise with President Obama that will extend the Bush tax cuts for all taxpayers for two years, including the well-to-do. For caving on the tax breaks for the rich, Obama won a 13-month extension of unemployment insurance, a 2-percent payroll tax credit, $40 billion in tax breaks for families and students, and quicker write-offs of business equipment. The deal includes a compromise on the estate tax that is also of benefit to the wealthy. Though Obama yielded on the upper-income tax cuts, he and his White House aides will argue they got a decent deal, given that the unemployment insurance, middle-class-targeted tax credits and other programs add up to about $215 billion for two years, while the tax-cut bonuses for the rich total about $95 billion for two years. Read full column here:

David Corn: Tax Deal a Win for Politics Not Policy